Tuesday Morning Coffee: Santorum Takes A Pass On Endorsing Romney.

Good Tuesday Morning, Fellow Seekers. When we were just a wee blog, our crazed cossack cousin Vladimir Pushkin Raskolnikov Vanya Karenina War and Peace Capitol Ideas used to take us on long walks on the grounds of his dacha on the Black Sea and there, he shared with us some wisdom (as well as glasses of a curiously clear liquid that put fire on our tongue),

"All happy families are alike," he'd say, his eyes bleary, the raucous songs of his ancestors still echoing across the Steppes. "But every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

Years later, we learned that he was ripping off this line from a famous and very complicated Russian novel that a lot of people have pretended to have read in order to appear sophisticated at parties.

And we have paid tribute to those bucolic days on the Black Sea by, for the second day running, coming up with a hackneyed and stereotypical plot device who has actually helped us back into a story about some disquiet in the amusingly dysfunctional Republican Party.

"As far as how you vote, that's up to you," the former Pennsylvania senator told supporters during a conference call. "I haven't supported any candidate at this point, so that's up to you."

During the call, Santorum also indicated that he's going to stay politically involved, Reuters reported.

“The best thing they can do is stay tuned. We really are serious about making sure the issues we brought up during this campaign are continuing going forward,” he said.

The rest of today's news starts after the jump.

The Republican U.S. Senate Race ... ... featuring Steve Welch, Tom Smith and several other people whose names we've yet to learn is emerging from the shadows of the presidential contest and becoming a must-see race in its own right, our Washington colleague Colby Itkowitz reports this morning.Rick Santorum's departure from the presidential race may boost Welch. Many presidential voters excited about Santorum were hoping to buck the establishment and not have a candidate forced on them, Itkowitz writes.Welch, with his support from the state party, is the establishment Mitt Romney character in the Senate contest. But now, those anti-establishment Santorum supporters may sit out the primary. A counter theory is that with Santorum out of the race, the Romney machine won't be driving a get-out-the-vote effort in key areas, particularly the Philadelphia suburbs, that could have benefited Welch. The winner faces U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., in the fall.

Big Congratulations ... ... to the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Patriot-News of Harrisburg, both of whom took home Pulitizer prizes for their reporting last year. That's a good sign for quality journalism being practiced across Pennsylvania.

Former House Democratic Staffer Mike Manzo ... ... has been sentenced to 18 to 48 months in jail for his role in the Bonusgate public corruption trial, the Post-Gazette also reports this morning. He must also pay $95,000 in fines and restitution, the newspaper reported.

Gov. Tom Corbett ... ... affixed his ceremonial signature Monday to a bill that allows private clubs and fraternal organizations to pay out bigger prizes on the small games of chance they use to raise money for community efforts.Corbett signed the bill on Feb. 2 and it took effect on March 3. But the Republican used the Legion post as a backdrop to highlight legislation that supporters say will help maintain the income from the games that communities facing tight budgets have now come to depend upon. Of course cash wouldn't be so tight if someone hadn't cut the budget so deeply, but does that make us catty?

What Goes On. This morning at 11 a.m. in the Governor's Reception Room, Gov. Tom Corbett will appear at a Holocaust remembrance day event.

What Goes On (Nakedly Political Edition).Dauphin County Republicans hold their spring reception this evening at 5:30 p.m. at the Mount Hill Tavern in Harrisburg. Admission runs $50 to $1,000.

On The Capitol Ideas iPod This Morning. Here's an old favorite from Las Vegas' own The Killers. From 2004, it's "Mr. Brightside." We were blasting this one in the car this morning. You should play it loud, too.